Financial Assistance to Farmers Practising Natural Farming in the Completely Chemical-Free Dang District

What is the Dang natural farming assistance scheme?

This scheme is a component of the Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation, Government of Gujarat that pays financial assistance to farmers in Dang district who practise natural farming, that is, farming without chemical fertiliser and chemical pesticide.

Dang is the specific reason the scheme exists. It is Gujarat's smallest and most heavily forested district, sitting in the Sahyadri hills of south Gujarat with a predominantly tribal farming population, small holdings, rainfed paddy and nagli, and historically low chemical input use to begin with. That combination made it the obvious candidate when the Government of Gujarat set out to create a completely chemical-free district. The transition cost was lower there than anywhere else in the state, and the district's produce could be positioned as naturally grown.

Converting a district is not free for the farmer, though. A grower who stops using urea and chemical pesticide usually sees yields dip for the first two or three seasons while soil biology recovers, and has to spend labour time preparing cow-based and botanical inputs instead of buying a sack of fertiliser. The assistance under this scheme is meant to carry the farmer across that gap so that the decision to go chemical-free is not punished economically in the transition years.

Gujarat backs the same policy through other institutions, a dedicated Gujarat Natural Farming Science University, listed among the agricultural universities of the department, and statewide natural farming training and input support components on iKhedut. This scheme is the district-specific financial leg of that policy.

Who is eligible for the Dang natural farming assistance?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer of Dang district, resident in the district and cultivating there.
• You hold cultivable land in your own name, shown on the 7/12 and 8-A extracts. Jointly held survey numbers need the consent of the co-holders.
• You do not use chemical fertiliser or chemical pesticide on the area you declare, and are willing to sign an undertaking to that effect.
• You are willing to allow field verification of the declared plot by the Agriculture Department's extension staff.
• You have a bank account seeded with your Aadhaar number to receive the DBT payment.

You cannot apply if:

• Your land lies outside Dang district. This is a district-specific component; farmers elsewhere in Gujarat must use the state's general natural farming and organic farming components on iKhedut.
• You do not hold land in your own name. Tenant farmers, sharecroppers and agricultural labourers are not eligible because the claim is checked against the land record.
• You use chemical inputs on the declared area. Partial compliance does not qualify the whole holding, and field verification is designed to catch exactly this.
• You have already drawn the same assistance for the same survey number in a period where the component bars repeat claims.
• The window is closed on iKhedut for the year, or the district target has been exhausted.

Dang is a scheduled area, and components routed through the Tribal Area Sub Plan require a Scheduled Tribe certificate. A general-category farmer in Dang applies under the general component instead.

How much assistance is paid?

The assistance is fixed as a per-hectare amount per year by the Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation and published against the component on the iKhedut portal for that financial year, along with the maximum area a single farmer can claim for. The rate and the area ceiling are both revised from time to time, so the figure printed on the iKhedut component page at the time you apply is the one that governs your claim. Do not rely on a rate quoted in an older news report or circular — apply against what the portal shows.

Payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the Aadhaar-seeded bank account recorded in your application, after field verification. There is no cash counter and no intermediary.

What documents are required?

Keep the original land record with you for the field visit; the extension officer matches the survey number on the ground against the extract.

How to apply for the Dang natural farming assistance

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Schemes (Yojana) section.
2. Choose Agriculture schemes and locate the natural farming component for Dang district. Read the component conditions, the per-hectare rate and the maximum area allowed for the current year.
3. Click Apply and state whether you are already a registered farmer on iKhedut. Registered farmers log in with the registration number; new applicants complete the fresh-registration route.
4. Fill in the application: village, taluka and district, survey number, area under natural farming, crops grown, caste category if claiming a sub-plan component, Aadhaar number, and bank name, branch, IFSC code and account number.
5. Save the application, note the application number, then use Confirm Application. An unconfirmed application is never processed, and a confirmed one cannot be edited.
6. Print the confirmed application, sign it, attach self-attested copies of the 7/12 and 8-A extracts, Aadhaar, bank passbook, the chemical-free undertaking and the caste certificate where applicable.
7. Submit the set to the Taluka Agriculture Office or the District Agriculture Officer, Dang (Ahwa), within the period shown on the acknowledgement, and keep the inward receipt.
8. Allow the field verification visit, after which the sanctioned assistance is released by DBT to your bank account.

How to apply if you cannot use the portal

1. Go to your village e-Gram centre, a Common Service Centre, or the Taluka Agriculture Office in Dang with Aadhaar, the 7/12 and 8-A extracts and your bank passbook.
2. Have the operator file the iKhedut application, and check the survey number, the declared area and the bank details on screen before confirming.
3. Collect the printout, sign it, and submit it with the documents at the Taluka or District Agriculture Office.
4. Write down the application number for your own records.

How to check your application status

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and select the application status option.
2. Enter the application number and the verification details the portal asks for.
3. The screen shows whether the application is confirmed, received at the office, approved, or rejected with the reason recorded.
4. After approval and field verification, the DBT credit appears in your bank account and by SMS.

If the status stays at "confirmed" after the window closes, the signed printout almost certainly never reached the office. Take a fresh printout and hand it in personally.

Why applications fail in practice

• Application saved but never confirmed on iKhedut.
• Printout not submitted to the Taluka or District Agriculture Office within the stated period.
• Survey number mismatch between the application and the 7/12 extract, or a joint holding filed without co-holder consent.
• Chemical inputs found on the declared plot at field verification, which disqualifies the claim.
• Area declared larger than the area actually under natural farming.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT credit fails.
• District target exhausted before the file was reached. Apply early in the next window.

Key dates

Gujarat opens iKhedut components for a defined window each financial year, not continuously. Natural farming components are generally opened early in the year so that sanction and verification fit around the kharif season, which is the main cropping season in Dang. The portal displays the opening and closing dates on each component page and stops accepting applications when the window closes or the district target is filled, whichever comes first. Check iKhedut at the start of the financial year rather than waiting for word in the village.

Where to get help or raise a grievance

• Taluka Agriculture Office and the District Agriculture Officer, Dang (Ahwa). The first point for status, verification and rejection queries.
• Department of Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation, Government of Gujarat, at agri.gujarat.gov.in, which publishes the department's contact addresses and officer list.
• iKhedut help section at ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in for login, OTP and portal errors.
• Gujarat Natural Farming Science University and the district's natural farming trainers, for agronomic guidance on preparing cow-based inputs and managing the transition years.
• Kisan Call Centre, 1800-180-1551, the national toll-free farmer helpline.

Applying is free. No officer or agent may charge for sanctioning the assistance, and the money is credited only to your own bank account.